Cherry Walk greenway in Riverside Park closes to cyclists, pedestrians until spring 2025
Photo credit: Howard Brier on Flickr
A section of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, the nation’s busiest bike path, will be closed for six months starting this week. The city’s Parks Department announced Cherry Walk, a scenic section of the greenway between 100th and 125th Streets in Riverside Park, will close starting Monday through the spring of 2025 for urgent repairs. The $1.5 million project will repave the asphalt damaged by bumps and cracks from tree roots and include restriping the lane markings.
The repairs were initially scheduled to begin last year and take just three to four months, as reported by West Side Rag. The Cherry Walk had previously undergone repairs in late 2020 for damage caused by Superstorm Sandy, reopening in 2021 after delays, according to Streetsblog.
Another section of the greenway, between West 181st and Dyckman Streets, is currently closed to repair a recurring sinkhole on West 187th Street.
With both sections closed, thousands of cyclists, runners, and pedestrians who use the path daily are being rerouted on a temporary detour onto Riverside Drive, leaving cycling advocates concerned about the safety of biking along the congested corridor.
Last year, that stretch of Riverside Drive saw 76 reported crashes, resulting in 47 injuries—an average of nearly one person hurt per week, as reported by Streetsblog.
Advocates have repeatedly urged officials to convert one of the lanes in the Henry Hudson Parkway, which runs parallel to the greenway with sinkholes, into a bike lane—providing riders with a safer alternate route while the greenway is closed.
“Riverside Drive has the potential of being a fabulous bikeway and it would really relieve all of the conflict between bicyclists and walkers on the greenway,” Peter Frishauf, an Upper West Side resident and cyclist, told Streetsblog.
Despite these concerns, Parks said it has collaborated with the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) on the detour plan, providing what they believe is a safe alternative.
This section of the greenway is expected to reopen in March.
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